Buying On Emotion
I recently had a conversation with a good friend of mine, and the topic of buying stuff as a part of therapy. It immediately brought my mind back to the previous post I had made (see "Nostalgia"). It's funny what we as humans will do to get rid of "bad feelings."
My friend (who shall remain nameless) doesn't have a lot of money. She monitors her monetary situation by week and often lives week to week. But recently she just experienced the death of a very close friend. This brought on a rash binge of buying whatever came to mind. Unfortunately this has landed her in a bit of financial trouble because she didn't plan on going on the "buying binge" so to speak.
What interests me is the fact that even though she didn't have the money to pay for her "binge" she still went out and bought things. I think it has to do with the "endorphine factor." Because she had experienced so many negative feelings and emotions in the last few weeks, she needed something to balance out the scale. And her natural response (as unhealthy and unwise as it was) was to go out and buy until she felt better about herself.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the response of many people. Rather than dealing with sorrow and depression in positive, healthy ways, people choose to go out and spend lots of money that they don't have. I myself have been guilty of that every once and a while. It's very easy to do in our modern culture, especially if you have a credit card. That's probably why so many Americans are so far in debt.
What we need is to find a creative, more healthy outlet for our frustration, pain, etc. Be it jogging, painting, swimming, whatever, there has to be a better way for all that emotion to be let out.
My friend (who shall remain nameless) doesn't have a lot of money. She monitors her monetary situation by week and often lives week to week. But recently she just experienced the death of a very close friend. This brought on a rash binge of buying whatever came to mind. Unfortunately this has landed her in a bit of financial trouble because she didn't plan on going on the "buying binge" so to speak.
What interests me is the fact that even though she didn't have the money to pay for her "binge" she still went out and bought things. I think it has to do with the "endorphine factor." Because she had experienced so many negative feelings and emotions in the last few weeks, she needed something to balance out the scale. And her natural response (as unhealthy and unwise as it was) was to go out and buy until she felt better about herself.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the response of many people. Rather than dealing with sorrow and depression in positive, healthy ways, people choose to go out and spend lots of money that they don't have. I myself have been guilty of that every once and a while. It's very easy to do in our modern culture, especially if you have a credit card. That's probably why so many Americans are so far in debt.
What we need is to find a creative, more healthy outlet for our frustration, pain, etc. Be it jogging, painting, swimming, whatever, there has to be a better way for all that emotion to be let out.
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